To Love Another, You Must First Love Yourself
by Authoress Vanna
Summary: The following title is a piece of wisdom that's helpful to anyone but Mato, who literally loves herself. BRS/Mato
1. Befriend

**Before We Begin**

Although the bulk of this fic is taken off the anime, I have mixed a thing or two from the OVA in here.

This was spur of the moment and not yet 100% fleshed out. I may not even post the next chapter.

Notice I altered the original plot so that Yuu could remember. My excuse is that because she was still in the alternate world when Strength died, she didn't lose her memory.

Disclaimer: Own squat.

Warnings 

This is yuri, girl/girl pairing. Don't like, then you can cry your heart out, because last time I gave a crap it was in the toilet.

It could become M rated, depending on where I decide to take this. I'll give you a heads-up if it does.

* * *

Narrowly dodging an enormous fist descending upon her that's attached to a Hulk-like figure manifested from skulls with glowing green eyes clustered together.

Debris flying from the fresh crater in the black/white checkered tile floor as she executes an epic slide on her bare knees and springs upright again several yards away, sapphire blue eyes with white pupils instead of black coolly observing her opponent.

Mindlessly, no strategy whatsoever, it lunged for her again. Black Rock Shooter created her Rock Cannon in a short amount of time, zeroed in on her target, and waited patiently for a proximity that would allow her a bull's eye.

"...Pointless." Her voice was a monotonous whisper as Dead Master's skull creature charged at her full-speed and finally came within a sufficient distance; her only wide open, perfect shot laid out before her. But for the first time during a skirmish, her eyes were glazed over and out of focus, and she didn't even notice that she had let her golden opportunity pass her by until the assailant's shadow fell over her.

Her response played out in a flash. She snapped out of her daze and whipped out her cannon, but before she could even fire, its open hand batted it straight out of her clutch. As the heavy fire arm went scuttling across the ground, Black Rock Shooter leaped backward, evading being smashed by its hand, and raced toward her Rock Cannon. It was sitting a few feet away and in seconds her fingertips were about to graze the barrel, but once again she made the mistake of diverting her attention from the battlefield for a split second. The monster took advantage of this and scooped her up in its fist, its massive fingers caging her with so much pressure she could barely even wriggle. With quick thinking she resorted to another... Out of the norm, but effective, escape plan.

She chomped down on its index finger that was coiled around her tiny shoulders.

The creature roared, but didn't release her or loosen its hold as she hoped. Instead, it brought the thrashing woman closer to its gaping jaws, and once she was so close a gust of its breath made her pigtails swim backwards, she ceased her struggling, acknowledging that without her cannon and being immoblized, it was no use. But just when she was lifted high in the air and dangling upside-down over the mouth, it froze up and she was left there with the uncomfortable sensation of all her blood rushing southbound to her head, while its gigantic, bright green eyes became lightless. A minimal tremor surged through it before its make-up of numerous cohering skulls collapsed into a colossal heap.

Black Rock Shooter went somersaulting down this pile none gracefully for a few heartbeats before she flipped onto her feet, managed to place some footholds and glissaded safely to the bottom. As she spun around on her heel, she found Dead Master waiting there for her. She was boring a hole in Rock's forehead with her nauseous green eyes, conveying an unspoken message: What's wrong with you?

Rock met her eyes bravely, and gave a small, barely perceptible shake of her head, indicating: Nothing. But in contradiction to her body language, her lips parted slightly, her voice flat and steady, "What's the point if I'm the source of her grief?"

**How it all began**

The day it all started, Mato found herself sitting atop a fence on a hill located on the outskirts of the city, overlooking a flushed horizon as the sun began to set, and fiddling with her baby blue cell phone accessory of a little star on a thread. It was strange to think that such a trivial-looking object served as a portal to another world, but it was, and now she was capable of accessing that portal whenever she liked-which was right now. In fact, she had come here all this way to be outside of curious eye, with the private time as a bonus.

"I wonder if Black Rock Shooter would be happy to see me," she wondered aloud, a smile ghosting her lips as she thought of her otherworldly counterpart, the one who shouldered her negative emotions without complaint. She got a tingly feeling in her stomach as she rather vividly visualized a gorgeous, curvy woman exposing much of her ashen skin, her eyes luminous, and activating a super-heavy cannon.

In their first meeting, her and Black Rock Shooter hadn't exactly seen eye-to-eye. Or they did, but had discovered themselves in a sticky situation. In an effort to permanently dispose of Yomi's severe grief, Mato had fused with Rock. Although Yuu's, or Strength's, plan was successful, with the rescue of Yomi came another, much more urgent dilemma. Mato and Black Rock Shooter were unable to split into their original, independent selves.

Mato didn't know why or how, but one disaster led to another until, eventually, they divided. Then the other dimension was safe again, and Mato and her alternate self reached an understanding that wasn't verbally confirmed, but intuitively when Mato spotted Black Rock Shooter watching her calmly from the upward-sloping edge of a cliff. Despite this, Mato wasn't positive if there relationship went beyond acquaintances to friends, but she was about to find out through the most accurate method: asking the person themselves.

To take the trip there, Mato had to open the portal through the following actions. She unclipped the chain on her cell phone, pocketed said cell phone in her jean shorts, and enclosed the mystical object in her palms. Just when she was about to activate it with mere will, an anxiety crept up on her that she didn't quite understand.

"What if she doesn't want to see me?" Mato murmured, then shook her head. Black Rock Shooter may have been busy fighting, but there were plenty of ways to work around that issue, like backing off to ensure she wouldn't get caught in the crossfire and waiting for Rock to find the time. It wasn't like anyone would target her, anyway.

With confidence renewed, she shut her eyes as the accessory was enveloped in a sphere of blue light.

Mato's eyes flew open to Black Rock Shooter's personal, gloomy realm of a dark landscape with crucifixion crosses shooting out crookedly from the floor. She swallowed just slightly, spooked by the setting, before turning to Black Rock Shooter herself. She was afront Mato on a small spit of flat surface that extended from a skyscraper-tall rocky outcropping like an arm, sitting back against its base with her knees bent up in relaxed posture, regarding Mato as emotionlessly as ever whilst she arched one of her delicate eyebrows.

Taking that as "What are you doing here?" Mato smiled sheepishly and explained, "I wanted to see you again! How are you?" She didn't respond, of course, but waved her hand in a "Shoo, be gone," gesture, making Mato's smile falter slightly. "I'm sorry if you're busy. I don't mean to be a bother. I just wanted to see my... Friend," she said, the last word coming out smaller than the rest.

Rock rose to her feet and took a few steps toward her to snatch the star bracelet from Mato's closed hand with ease. Mato gasped and dove for it, but Rock held it out of her reach, her eyes however vacuous seeming to taunt.

"Black Rock Shooter, that's mine. Please give it back," Mato whined and stepped forward, only to be halted by Rock's gloved hand against her forehead.

"Go back."

"Why?" Mato replied, sounding hurt. _I want to stay._

To her dismay, Rock pressed the chain/bracelet back into Mato's hand and lowered herself to the shorter one's eye level while the soft glow started to radiate from the object again. She said nothing, her eyes probing her identical ones with some unknown purpose.

"Wait," Mato said dazedly, semi-lost in the haunting stare. "Don't..."

But before she could get anything else out, she vanished in a blinding flash of light. And when she opened her eyes again, she was still situated on the fence, staring at her bracelet.

"I want to talk to you," she whispered, and buried her face in her hands. All she could think about was the other version of herself, the way her skimpy, badass attire actually seemed kind of modest-at least in Mato's point of view-and how she pulled it off so perfectly. How she fought with so much power and invigoration. How her heartrate had accelerated when she stared into her eyes just moments ago, and it was still just beginning to steady itself.

To a naive girl like Mato, she didn't realize this was attraction. She had never developed those kinds of feelings for anyone before, and so in all her inexperience, she believed Black Rock Shooter was just another person she was eager to be good friends with.

Sighing, Mato tried to dispel the melancholy rising within her and pulled herself down, stumbling a little before straightening herself. She knew she could always try again; Mato had learned from befriending Yomi that persistence was the key.

"I don't care if you try to push me away." Mato's voice was hard. "I'll never give up until you warm up to me. I want to be really good friends with you, Black Rock Shooter."

_Really, really good friends..._ Mato added mutely as she pushed on home, descending from the crest of the hill, and not wise to the involuntary thought that popped in her head.

_Or more than friends._

The next morning, Mato, Yomi, and Kagari walked abreast of each other on their way to school. Their treads clacked softly on the cement sidewalk, the March sun beating down on them and vehicles lumbering past as their school came into view. Living so close to each other, the trio of friends always walked to school together. It was probably Mato's favorite time of the day, being united with her two closest friends for a longer, uninterrupted duration of time, and normally she'd be giddy just being in their presence. Currently, however, she was submerged in deep thought and didn't contribute to the conversation save for some noises of acknowledgement to give the pretense that she was tuned in. So far it seemed that her companions were due to take note of her off behavior, being so involved in a heated conversation that Mato could've been abducted by aliens right then and there and they wouldn't have batted an eye.

Yomi was a lanky girl who measured higher than both the other girls, with medium green eyes covered by small-framed glasses and a hairstyle that Mato always believed was admiringly unique. It was cropped to her ears in the back, but let loose in the front in the form of oddly jagged waves hanging over her shoulders. She was summarizing what Mato assumed from the bits she got a showdown with Kagari in a video game, while her childhood friend inserted her two cents every now and then and Yomi in all her demureness wouldn't voice opposition.

That childhood friend, Kagari, sported a soft expression, an upturned nose, and a pair of equally soft and tame brown eyes that leaned toward yellow. Her and Mato were even in height, though she seemed more frail to Mato in every other way, much unlike the terrifying aura she showcased before the death of Chariot, her alternate self. She was listening far more intently than Mato was, always captivated by her beloved Yomi, and as mentioned above, had the kindness to throw in details in Yomi's tale.

"...But she ended up beating me anyway with a charged attack," Yomi said.

"She could've deflected it," Kagari snorted.

Mato grunted as they reached the staircase leading to the front double doors of their school building, ascending it, her gaze pinned ahead without really seeing. _Did I say something wrong to her...? _As the trio pushed through the doors and entered a hallway brimmed by endless rows of lockers, she absentmindedly picked up her pace. Straying far ahead of her friends, they beckoned for her.

"M-Mato! Wait up!"

"Jeez, where's the fire?"

"Hm?" Startled from her trance, Mato wheeled around to see her friends many feet away, rushing to catch up to her, Yomi in particular looking comical as she struggled to haul her backpack back onto her shoulders when the straps fell off. She gave them an apologetic look as she paused and waited for them to reach her.

Kagari got to her first and fastened her hands to her hips. "Why are you walking so fast?"

"Sorry! Sorry! I'm a bit distracted!" Mato flailed her arms as she made her excuse. Yomi came to stand in front of her, her breaths slightly more labored than her childhood friend's. "Maybe you should get more exercise, Yomi," Mato suggested in a friendly fashion.

Yomi laughed a bit nervously. "I'm not the athletic type."

"She's the artistic type," Kagrai put in, beaming at Yomi.

"Oh, yes. Your paintings are beautiful, Yomi!" Mato agreed with halfhearted enthusiasm.

Yomi downcast her eyes, twirling her finger in a lock of her lightning-streak-shaped mass of dark hair. "They're okay."

"They're wonderful," Mato insisted, and she would've continued had Kagari not broken in.

"Did you just deliberately get us sidetracked in the conversation?" she asked suspiciously.

"What? No. Our conversations always get sidetracked..." Mato replied.

"Well, you never answered my question. Why were you walking so fast?"

Mato suddenly felt like the two girls towered over her by three feet as their eyes landed attentively and expectantly on her. "Well, I..." she trailed off, her plastic smile deflating when she thought she saw a familiar crown of light brown hair stopping in front of a locker.

It was the actual Yuu of this world, the one Mato hadn't known until a few weeks ago when her alternate self, Strength, died, and Yuu had been forced to return to her original body. The two of them had been distant since, because the real Yuu seemed to come off uninviting and standoffish. Whenever Mato attempted idle chit-chat with her, Yuu's side of the conversation was almost nonexistent. She didn't know if this real Yuu was shy or coping or what, but she had given up trying to squeeze words out of her and gave her space from now on.

But today was different. Mato wanted some advice on her alternate self, but there weren't many options since few were aware of this other dimension. Only Yuu and Saya were left to confide in, so she thought it wouldn't hurt to talk to Yuu.

"Mato?" Mato blinked and looked over at Yomi, who appeared to be battling with herself, drilling her toe in the floor and her gaze skittering between Mato and Yuu. In a flash Mato knew what she was thinking: Yomi was recalling the smoldering envy she had felt, the feeling of being a third wheel (But without Yuu and Mato being an item!) whenever Mato hung around Yuu or mentioned their unbreakable bond since the two were little girls. It had swelled until poor Yomi snapped and broke, developing a spine-chilling impulse to idly snip at her hair with scissors constantly, and she had even threaded some strands of hair into the bracelet she had crafted for Yuu. Remembering her breakdown brought a shudder to Mato, and it was clear Yomi was unable to repress the memory as well, which explained her obvious discomfort in even using Yuu's name in a sentence.

Yomi smiled wearily. "Why don't you and Yuu talk anymore?"

"Oh, um..." Mato, uncapable of spinning a convincing fabrication on the spot, was stumped. She couldn't go out and say the real reason, as Yomi and Kagari were left in the dark about the fantastical incidents, so she opted to say: "Actually, you're right. I'm gonna talk to her right now!"

Both her friends were stunned as Mato squeezed through them and broke into a run, heading for Yuu. She heard Kagari cry out something, but ignored it as she approached Yuu. Her technical ex-best friend was entering her locker combination when Mato came up to her, waving enthusiastically and booming too close to her ear, "Hello!" The other girl yelped, her school materials flying out of her hands and scattering across the floor. Mato gasped and apologized profusely, bending over to collect her papers, binders, notebooks and textbooks and shoving them back into Yuu's arms before Yuu had the chance to do it herself.

Unfazed by the commotion, Yuu greeted her bluntly. "Good morning, Mato."

"Good morning!" Mato returned. Yuu was at last able to open her locker and slipped some of her belongings inside before slamming it. Then, bearing a single binder now, she brushed past Mato as if she wasn't there. It was this borderline cold-shouldered behavior that made Mato back off in the first place, but she went after Yuu anyway, matching her pace with hers.

"I wanted to talk to you about Black Rock Shooter, if you're not busy," Mato told her. Yuu blinked at her; it was her way of permitting her to continue. Quietly so as nobody would eavesdrop, though it was early and the hall was sparsely populated anyway, Mato pressed on. "I want to be friends with her. I've gotta be friends with myself, right? And she's nice..."

"You are."

Unsure if she was stating Mato was nice or she had already established a companionship with Black Rock Shooter, Mato responded, "Yes, but, I'd like to talk to her more. And hang out with her."

"You live in two seperate worlds, Mato. Literally. It'd be hard to maintain a friendship with her," Yuu replied, but failed to crush Mato's hopes.

She declared a little loudly, "But it's possible!" and succeeded in attracting some stares. Although she seemed oblivious to them, Yuu shushed her harshly.

"We don't need the whole school to hear."

"Heh, sorry..." Mato replied sheepishly and looked around at the heads turning back to their tasks. "I guess I'm a loudmouth sometimes."

"I can see that."

"So!"-Mato tried to ease the tension while getting the conversation back on track-"What should I do?"

"What should you do?"

"Yeah!"

Yuu was finally looking at her. "Come closer." Mato hesitated for a moment, wary of whatever Yuu was planning, but then chided herself for her paranoia and leaned her ear toward her. "Closer."

"Why...?"

"Just come a little closer." Mato brought her ear another inch forward, and Yuu said, sotto voce, "Kiss her."

Mato instantly recoiled with a look of horror on her face, left speechless while Yuu broke into the first grin to touch that face in a while. "I'm kidding. I don't know what you can do. She doesn't have feelings, remember? You could to talk to her all you want, but she's not going to enjoy the friendship or anything."

"...You scared me," breathed a Mato that was beginning to loosen up.

"Oh, come on, it was obviously a joke. Why would I suggest you kiss yourself? It's kind of weird. Hey, are you blushing?"

"Noooo!" Mato wailed, clapping her blazing cheeks. "I mean, yes! I'm embarrassed. That is weird."

"You're taking this kind of seriously," Yuu said, narrowing her eyes to slits. "You must want to kiss her."

"No, it's not like that!" Mato insisted desperately, and Yuu's grin was reborn.

"Again, I'm kidding."

"Oh my gosh, you're so not funny," Mato whined and shook her head, puzzled by the intense blush dusting her cheeks and the image that had flickered in her head when kissing Rock had been brought up even more so. It never occurred to her that the reason it affected her deeply was because Yuu was right; she wanted her to, but didn't know it.

Yuu forgot all about it in the blink of an eye, or maybe she took note of Mato's reaction and was merely acting aloof, and shrugged. "We done here?"

"No. You haven't given me pointers yet."

"I don't know," Yuu sighed, and went on to save herself from Mato's pouting, "Just talk to her."

"I tried. She sent me back home," Mato said sulkingly.

"Really?" Yuu said thoughtfully. "Huh. Then I guess for her own reasons, she doesn't want to talk to you. Long-distance friendships are difficult, anyway. So leave her be."

Mato digested this. "But I really want to hang out with her... I don't think I'm pestering her. I think it's something else."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but she wasn't fighting or anything when I saw her. She seemed to have plenty of free time, so like I said, I don't think I'm pestering."

Yuu smiled ruefully. "Mato, she's never had anyone try to befriend her. Think about that."

A shrill ring of the warning bell sounded. All of the sudden a stampede of students flooded the hallway, headed for their first period class. There was some impatience among the traffic, and Mato flattened against a locker so as to not barricade anyone's path. Yuu strode ahead of Mato without looking back and melted into the crowd. Mato would've navigated to her class too, but she was distracted by her thoughts again, mulling over the new information.

_Never had anyone try to befriend her..._


	2. Blackmail

After the discussion with Yuu, Mato had approached the situation with more insight than she'd ever expected of herself, thus putting everything into consideration: the challenges of maintaining a close friendship with her other self, game plans to overcome those challenges, possibilities of why Rock would hesitate, etc./end of thinking capacity and chalked it all up to one sketchy solution.

She would be more assertive towards Black Rock Shooter. Her counterpart would resist like before, of course, for that mystery reason Mato may have solved: the fear that a friendship with her would risk subjectng Mato to pain, and the instinct to prevent such by any means necessary. But in all her optimism, Mato was certain that if she stood her ground, eventually she'd wear Rock down.

The two of them would become such good, good friends. They'd hold that type of conversation wherein throughout the course of it, they couldn't stick to one subject for over a minute before getting sidetracked with something else utterly random. They'd learn the conspicuous tells in each other's body language, like Mato's weird habit of folding her hands together when secretive. They'd do everything together, or so she hoped.

Unfortunately, due to Rock's incapability of emotion, a lot of these things Mato fantasized were next to impossible: One without feelings would have little to offer in the making of a chat. One without feelings wouldn't have any give-aways in their body language, because they had nothing to express.

It was blatantly obvious, but that reality slipped the young girl's mind in the midst of her excitement, until something would force her to face it.

The period following the unraveling of her ingenius plan, Mato requested leaving her algebra class for an appointment with the school counselor, Saya. Mrs. Reihner wholeheartedly approved, having been sympathetic of the destructive emotional phases Mato's age group were prone to. (In fact, she was famous for encouraging speeches and riveting tales of her own struggles in junior high.) Mato thanked her and went on her merry way to Saya's office with an important discussion in mind.

As she was trekking through the labyrinth hallways, Mato happened upon Yomi. She was sauntering in the same direction and clutching her permission slip at her side, crumpling it, like something was eating at her.

Mato jogged up to her friend and fell in line with her stride. She asked without even an opening greeting, "Are you alright, Yomi?"

Yomi hadn't seen her friend sneaking up behind her, so she jolted when Mato spoke. "Mato!" she exclaimed, then more evenly, "I was just visiting Saya."

Mato gaped in a goofy fashion, as if Yomi had reported to her that she won a million dollars, and the display elicited a smile from the jagged-haired girl. "No way! Me too!"

In receiving this news, Yomi's smile drooped. "Ah..."

Mato blinked rapidly. "What?"

"Nothing! Actually, I have a lot of work to do in social studies, so I'll just see Saya another time." There was barely visible perspiration on her forehead. She took an about-turn, half-running back to class.

Mato stared after her retreating form for a moment. "That was weird," she muttered before walking onward, deciding then to interrogate Yomi later.

Not long after that, Mato was standing outside Saya's office and rapped lightly on the door. There was the noises of shuffling resonating from behind it before it swung open so abruptly, she staggered back so as not to be slammed by it.

Saya was occupying the doorway. "Good morning, Mato," she said. "It's good to see you. Come in." She pulled the door fully ajar and stepped aside for the younger girl, who in turn entered with a genuine smile on display, then shut it with a soft click. Mato plopped down on the couch, and Saya planted herself in her arm chair.

"Would you like some coffee, Mato?" It was Saya's tradition to offer coffee to every guest at her office.

"No, thank you," Mato rejected politely, not at all thirsty and wanting to cut to the chase. "I wanted to ask you about Black Rock Shooter."

"Mato," Saya began with eyebrows raised high. "I don't know /everything/ about this. You know that."

Mato replied, "You know more than me." It was true, since Saya had had plenty of time to learn the basics of the alternate world.

"I'm just warning you, I may not be that big of a help," Saya replied. She crossed one leg over the other. "So, what is it?"

"I want to be friends with Black Rock Shooter. Close friends that hang out all the time," Mato blurted.

Saya's eyes widened a fraction of an inch. "Mato, don't you realize you're in separate worlds? How would you stay in touch?"

"I'll visit her all the time," Mato spoke with vigor. "Maybe she could visit me!"

"Slow down. I don't know if leaving her world would be safe for you," Saya said.

"Either way, I can stay in touch with her if she'd just let me!" Mato insisted. Her bottom lip protruded in a pout and quivered.

Saya heaved a sigh and raked a hand through her hair. Then she fell silent for a time, while Mato shifted her feet, the wait agonizing to her however brief. Finally, her counselor returned her eyes to the distressed student.

"I'm going to guess that you've tried, and she pushed you away."

Mato nodded slowly. "I was thinking assertiveness would help."

"Keep in mind, she doesn't have emotions," Saya told her. "So I doubt she'll even budge unless you present her with a logical reason for it." Mato leaned in slightly and Saya took a breath. "Tell her that if she doesn't, it will hurt your feelings. She'll do anything to prevent hurting your feelings."

It only took Mato a few seconds to absorb. She shot up from her seat, grinning so wide, Saya feared it might travel all around the circumference of Mato's head and break off the top. "That... Is so much better than my plan. That would definitely work!"

Saya found Mato's smile contagious when she dashed up to her and vigorously shook her hand with both of hers. "Just be careful with this, okay?"

"I will!" said Mato as her hands fell back to her sides, and a shadow passed over her features. "Wait. Isn't that like blackmail?"

"Again, she's emotionless," Saya reminded her.

"Still..." Mato hesitated.

"It's only a suggestion. You don't have to," Saya said with a shrug.

Mato gnawed her bottom lip. "I guess I'll think about it."

Saya praised, "That's good. Contemplation is much needed right now."

And contemplate Mato did.

Later that day, she was in the same setting as yesterday evening: sitting atop a fence overlooking the dazzling sunset. The horizon's warm, tie-dye sort of colors evoked a lighthearted feeling in Mato, of which was eclipsed by something else so much that she wouldn't be surprised to find herself soaring through the air.

She was going to blackmail Black Rock Shooter, her desperation and Saya's encouragement pushing the normally kindhearted girl this far.

Mato encased the bracelet in her palms and activated the portal. A pinprick of light surrounding it burst into a pillar shooting sky-high, and Mato was teleported to the alternate world.

She was in Dead Master's realm this time. It was a mountainous region draped in ominous fog, dotted with bodies of murky water that were densely littered by black skulls. Their unoccupied eye sockets glowed a toxic green, as well as the space in their mouths as they bobbed on the surface, and it was overall to Mato a more unsettling place than Black Rock Shooter's.

The girl in her early teens swallowed her fear as much as she could, willing herself to follow the shoreline of a black pond in search of Black Rock Shooter. Her eyes scouted her surroundings, but she couldn't spot her counterpart anywhere within her field of sight.

"Weird. The bracelet is supposed to send me right to her," Mato remarked, trying to dispel the doubts shadowing her. _She's here somewhere_, she assured herself, but the doubts crept up on her anyway. What if Black Rock Shooter was deliberately steering clear of her, unwilling to be around Mato?

She balled her hands into fists, her heartache worsening, but she wouldn't give up yet. Mato darted for the nearest rocky outcropping, so desperate she'd even check behind an unlikely place such as that, when someone yanked her back with immense force.

They pulled her against their slender frame and launched into the air, their arms locking so securely around her she couldn't even manuever to look up and see who it was. Mato yelped and struggled to no avail as her captor's leap lifted them high into the air, making her stomach plummet.

They landed solidly countless feet away, her captor dropping Mato rather unceremoniously on the stony floor. Mato gave an "Ouch," picked herself up and swiveled around to see who had scared her out of her skin, a tad aggravated.

Her aggravation was quickly forgotten as her eyes landed on a pale face of chiseled features. "R-Rock," she recognized with a blush dusting her cheeks when she realized her body had been flush against Black Rock Shooter's for a length of time.

Black Rock Shooter was staring daggers at her. "Watch it."

"H-huh?" The other jerked a thumb aimed up ahead to resolve Mato's confusion, and Mato followed it to the ground she was previously standing at. Dead Master was tangled in a network of her own chains, pinned against the rock and watching the two like a hawk. Apparently, though Mato hadn't seen it coming at all, she had been caught in the crossfire and Black Rock Shooter had saved her with perfect timing.

The epiphany warmed Mato's heart, and she hurled herself at an unsuspecting Black Rock Shooter, capturing her in a bear hug. The solid evidence that Black Rock Shooter did care about her left her jubilant. Her counterpart went rigid, refusing to reciprocate but didn't move away.

Mato was unfazed by this, too deep in gratitude. "Thank you!" she said gleefully.

Black Rock Shooter grunted in acknowledgement and attempted peeling Mato away gently, but the smaller girl stuck like gum to hair. "Off," she said sourly.

Mato shook her head vehemently. "It's warm. I'm going to stay here forever." She shut her eyes and sighed dreamily.

Something flickered in Black Rock Shooter's eyes. It could have been emotion, but it disappeared too fast for one to be certain. She checked on her assailant, and was instantly concerned for Mato's safety. The web of chains binding Dead Master were beginning to fracture as she struggled.

Rock took Mato by the shoulders and shook her lightly. "Get off!"

"You're hurting my feelings," said an oblivious Mato.

"Dead Master is escaping," she urged, tempted to put all her strength into throwing Mato off but reluctant to harm her.

Mato didn't seem to hear. "Just hug back," she said, proud of her assertiveness.

Black Rock Shooter circled her arms loosely and unenthusiastically around Mato. "Now let go."

Mato hummed happily. "Tighter."

Black Rock Shooter stole an urgent glance at Dead Master and saw she had mostly broken free of the restraints; all she had left to do was wrestle out of the knots. Having to resort to desperate measures, she forcefully pushed Mato away. Mato was unpleasantly awakened from her stupor, rolling in the dirt and over sharp stones before she came to a halt and pulled herself upright.

She groaned, smarting, and looked over to Rock to demand what that was for, but then silenced herself. Rock was turned away from her, activating her cannon. Rock Cannon extended from her glove, developing its parts and a whirr emitting from it that indicated her shot was charging.

Mato had a short second to glimpse the target: Dead Master, airborne with the assistance of a huge, levitating skull and advancing toward them at top speed. She rose from her sitting position while concentrating her chains to emerge from the ground behind Rock and sail in her direction.

"Rock!" Mato screamed, making the other involuntarily look over at her while Rock Cannon spewed a ball of energy square at Dead. It was powerful enough to decimate the crown of the skull and knock the opponent off her feet. While Yomi's counterpart nose-dived, the chains sneak attacked and constricted Rock.

She withdrew her fire arm, drew her sword and started slashing at them, whilst a Mato choking with panic and worry that she could lose Black Rock Shooter any minute came up to her and tried to pull the chains back. To her chagrin, they were resistant and slippery, wriggling out of Mato's grasp without any trouble, and retaliated. One of the chains darted over to her and encircled her shoulders to toe so securely her air supply was close to being cut off.

"Rock!" she screamed.

Black Rock Shooter sliced more frantically through this field of living shackles, desperately trying to reach Mato. Mato was screeching like a banshee in her imprisonment, her danger upsetting Rock and making her more dead-set on helping Mato out of there. She finally activated her Rock Cannon and blasted the restraints to bits, including the ones holding Mato.

Mato dropped and screamed again, only for her fright to fade to relief as she landed in Rock's arms. Carrying her bridal style, Black Rock Shooter's instinct boomed for her to get Mato to safety. She laid her hand over the bracelet dangling around Mato's wrist.

"Go back," she weakly cajoled.

Even after all this, Mato refused. "Not unless you don't send me home next time, when it's safer anyway." Rock nodded curtly, willing to do anything right now that would keep Mato out of danger. Mato was overjoyed and squealed triumphantly. "Okay. Bye! I'll miss you!"

Mato beamed at the other before teleporting to her reality in a brilliant burst of light. It was a brief flash as always, making the other girl shield her eyes. Gradually the light dwindled, and Black Rock Shooter stared at the nothingness in her arms.

Then she collapsed to her knees and stared emptily at the ashy soil.

"Crap..."


	3. Emotions and Visits

**A Word from the Author**

Oh yes, I've decided to continue. Though a lot of my motivation stems from the pleasant surprise that I actually received more than one review on the first chapter, (and I'm grateful to my readers for that) you can also thank my girlfriend's encouragement and negotiations. For every two reviews, I'm given a free kiss. x3

In other news, from this point on I'll include sneak peeks to chapters under way in my profile, so check that out if you will.

On yet another note, I have tweaked the characters' personalities a bit, if anyone noticed. The reason is a good one: As much as I loved the anime, they didn't seem to portray the characters so well. That, or I suck at picking up personalities, but they all seemed too dim for me to work with.

Enjoy and all that jazz.

* * *

After so many failed attempts to confess face-to-face, Yomi was resorting to desperate measures that night when she sat upright in her bed and grabbed the EnV 3 off her nightstand.

She flipped it open to the internal screen, its backlight penetrating the darkness of her room and stabbing her in the retina, and navigated via a long process of pressing buttons to reach her desired destination. Opening up the "compose message" page, she typed Kuroi Mato in the address bar and began typing in the provided text area, meshing the QWERTY keyboard.

**I have been wanting to tell you this for some time now, but was too shy. Mato, I lo_**

She paused with her thumb hovering over the "V" before clearing the space entirely, sliding it shut with a blatant click and dropping it on her bed. Yomi had coveted Mato ever since the time she started pursuing her as a friend, the feelings waxing even now, but had never found the courage to say so.

She wrapped herself in the covers after hooking her cell phone back up to its charger, and laid there for some time with her eyes open and transfixed on the electronic she'd returned to its place on her mahogany nightstand. It beckoned her to muster the will, but at the same time, that fear of rejection held her back, and she wondered if it was even possible for Mato to be attracted to the same sex.

It wasn't really an uncommon thing in her environment. In fact, she'd seen plenty of homosexual couples in her lifetime, and yuri was raging popular in media, but she couldn't tell with Mato. She never expressed any attraction to anyone until lately, Yomi had detected a change in her crush's behavior.

She was frequently caught daydreaming, both in class and outside it; even during social activites with Yomi and Kagari, her mind seemed to be wandering, and it made Yomi wonder if the bulk of Mato's focus was revolving around someone special, which led to jealousy. Yomi didn't like to be so possessive of Mato, especially when it slapped her in the face last time, but couldn't help it. She was so haunted by the prospect of Mato being whisked away from Yomi by someone else that... She felt like she'd die if it turned out to be true.

* * *

Like Yomi, someone else couldn't sleep.

Mato was cocooned in her covers, constantly tossing and turning, experimenting with every position physically possible only for slumber to continue eluding her. She rolled on her side for the umpteenth time that night, and was teetering over the edge by then. Mato squealed and thrashed, but she was literally cocooned in her bed sheets, and ended up falling over.

She met the floor with a raucous thump and wriggled out of her sheets, gingerly rubbing where she'd hit her head. "I gotta be more careful..." Sighing, she started untangling the covers, but paused when she wondered what was the use if she couldn't sleep, anyway?

With a snap decision, she threw the still bundled-up covers on her bed and patted around her nightstand until she felt the bracelet/phone chain underhand. She closed it in her palm, blue rays of light already permeating amongst her fingers as she boosted her confidence with another pep talk.

"I'm sure she's done fighting," she murmured, "and she has to talk to me now. She promised. Well, she didn't say promise, but..." Mato could've prattled on forever about how she wouldn't be frostily shooed away again, but the light swallowed her into the next dimension.

* * *

When Mato appeared before her, Black Rock Shooter was sound asleep.

She was leaning against a slouching cross in a borderline fetal position, the upper half of her face shrouded by her hood. Mato was momentarily hypnotized by the shallow rise and fall of her chest, and waged a war with herself whether or not she should rouse her. Mato took cautious, timely steps toward her anyway, her shuffles spraying dust.

Black Rock Shooter produced a small sound, and Mato froze mid-stride. She tensed up even more as she shifted.

Mato wasn't sure why she was afraid, but her heart was accelerating like helicopter wings as she daringly advanced another inch. _My heartbeat might wake her up before my tread, _she half mused, half grumbled.

When her counterpart remained motionless for maybe thirty more seconds, Mato found the nerve in herself to take faster, less tentaive strides, and at last she reached her. She knelt down adjacent to her and at that point, it seemed her brain had shut down, and her muslces were moving by their own accord.

She pulled Rock's hood down, grateful for the fully exposed, porcelain features. Mato could never have imagined a time when Rock looked so peaceful. The muscles in her face were completely at ease, and her eyes, framed by heavy and orderly lashes (in Mato's viewpoint) were closed, but Mato didn't mind that however a sight to behold her electric blue eyes were. She looked pretty this way, too. She looked pretty from every perspective.

Mato's brain completely disengaged itself from the operation, her movements becoming bolder. She swept her midnight black bangs out of her eye line, and touched her forehead and nose tip with the other's, continuing to be unaware of herself. Then she inched her lips closer to those fuller, more mature ones, and just when they were a hair's breath apart...

Black Rock Shooter's eyes flew open.

"I'm awake, Mato."

That was all it took for the spell on Mato to lift. She blinked a few times as her thought process finally set itself in motion, and when it sank in, jerked back. Black Rock Shooter didn't seem to react at all to what had transpired and merely pierced the other with a stoic gaze, but Mato's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. _Did I just... Try to..._

Mato opened her mouth to explain herself, and it fell shut again. She realized she didn't know how to explain herself, because consciously (key word: consciously)she hadn't an inkling of it, so the two were engulfed in heavy (to Mato; to Rock it was whatever)silence for some time.

Finally, Mato rediscovered her voice, though it was tremulous. "I didn't uh, know you slept."

"Do you sleep?" she asked timidly.

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then so do I. I need to replenish my energy, too."

Mato felt the means of a conversation forming, and did her best efforts to drag it further. "I guess I assumed, because your wounds heal faster and overall you're a lot more advanced than us." She smiled softly, tentatively, the puzzling event slowly being forgotten.

"Mm."

And thus, the grunt took Mato from one step forward, to two steps backward again. Adamantly, she scrounged around her head for a new subject. "But you said you were awake."

"You woke me up."

"Eheh. How?" At this, Black Rock Shooter averted her eyes, freeing Mato from the nervousness they evoked in her. "Rock?"

"The light," she replied in a few octaves lower than normal.

Mato, who was not normally observant but alert when it came to Rock, took note of the drop in her tone, rose to her feet and came over to her. Rock inched away when her master placed herself beside her again, wary.

Mato smiled sheepishly, feeling equally anxious but trying not to show it. "Is that all?" Rock stared and it took her a moment to realize she was expecting specification. "It seems like there was more that woke you up."

Black Rock Shooter's mouth twitched. "The light didn't wake me up completely. Your touch did."

Blood rushed to Mato's cheeks and her memory was so vivid, she was able to re-live that split second her fingers were woven through Rock's bangs. Her hair had felt soft and polished, despite Mato not knowing if the other selves groomed their hair or not.

Oh look, a subject change.

"Do you wash your hair?"

Rock's perfectly manicured eyebrows-Mato wondered at those too-slanted downward. Alternatively, Mato's rose, flabbergasted to see expression on her visage.

"What?" Black Rock Shooter asked, confusing Mato as to whether she was addressing her own expression or the last question.

Mato swallowed. "Do you, ah, wash your hair?"

Rock twined a lock of hair from her right pigtail around her index finger, seeming to study it. "Am I supposed to?"

"Um... You know what? Never mind." _Maybe she doesn't need to, and it washes itself or something. I wish my hair could do that,_ she added with a thumb size smile. "Rock, thanks for letting me talk to you."

"Mm."

"And, sorry about... That thing," she mumbled, knowing specifcation wasn't necessary. "I think I'm tired." She was confused by the blush dusting her cheeks once more.

"Mm," came another grunt, and yet again Mato picked up on a subtle tell that was Rock's eyebrows almost knitting together in confusion.

"Do you understand what I'm talking about?" Mato asked.

"No."

Mato scrunched up her nose, reluctant to explain what she didn't understand much herself. "What's confusing you?"

"Why you're so flustered and ashamed. You got a little close; it's not the end of the world."

"Because I tried to ki-" Mato launched off indignantly, but caught herself in time, and hung her head to hide the darkening blush.

Kissing, to Mato, was never something she'd dreamed of doing. There was nothing romantic or enjoyable about smacking your lips together, waving your tongue in someone's mouth and swapping saliva, so she never thought about it. Until Black Rock Shooter, that is. She actually found herself craving to feel them with hers and, now that she thought about it, she had been stealing glances at Rock's lips the entire time.

_? _Mato screamed at herself, and grappled at her currently unbound hair. Black Rock Shooter was a _girl. _Black Rock Shooter was _herself_. A more mature, gorgeous, stronger version of herself but all in all _herself. _To be attracted to another you was not only totally weird, but impossible, right? How could Mato literally love herself?

Her train of thought was derailed. "Tried to what?" Black Rock Shooter asked.

When she looked up at the other, she was staring at her again. Mato fancied she was concerned by the way she was pulling at her hair, and let her hands fall back to her sides. "Nothing. Never mind." Something dawned on her. "Rock, do you know what a kiss is?"

"Two things touching each other, like my fist with an enemy's face," Black Rock Shooter answered flatly.

Mato laughed softly. "No, but like people locking lips."

"No. That sounds absurd," Rock said with a hardly visible frown. She had never heard of it, Mato realized. She couldn't pick it up from society and media like Mato had, and any physical touch that wasn't violent didn't exist in her reality, anyway.

Mato breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Oh, that makes sense." Thank goodness she didn't know what a kiss was, or Rock's reaction may have been to throw Mato out once more, or perchance something worse.

"Why?"

"No reason," Mato replied, to which Rock looked at her disbelievingly but didn't venture to interrogate. She rose to her feet and stretched her arms over her head, suddenly aware of how tired she was and the time that may have passed. "I should go to bed."

"You should've already been sleeping," Rock said, her words sharp like knives and making Mato wince.

"I couldn't sleep." Mato wished Black Rock Shooter would've been a little more welcoming.

"Mm."

"Because I was excited to see you," she explained, turning to the other again.

Black Rock Shooter's eyes seemed colder than before. "It's no use, Mato."

"I know. You're not capable of emotions, which kind of ruins the whole-"

"Yes, I am," Rock intervened.

Mato was perplexed, and it showed in her voice. "I was told that you didn't have emotions."

"We don't."

"But you just said!" Mato huffed indignantly.

"It's not hard to understand. We don't have emotions, but we can develop them. Like Strength."

At this new information, Mato's lips upturned in a smile. She dropped to her knees once more, and embraced Rock loosely. Black Rock Shooter didn't react.

There was a pause. "How?" Mato asked.

"Don't know."

"Do you want to feel emotions, Rock?"

"No," Black Rock Shooter said immediately.

Mato's embraced tightened. She wasn't exactly sure where these actions were coming from, but her thought process was clear to her. She wanted Black Rock Shooter to possess emotions. That way, all those issues thought to make a friendship with Rock impossible would no longer exist.

But if Black Rock Shooter didn't want them...

"Why not?" Mato's voice sounded a bit broken, and again, she couldn't place the reason for her reaction. _Do I want to be good friends that badly? _

"Emotions would be a burden to carry in battle," Rock said.

"There are benefits," Mato pressed.

"They're essential to a human's survival, Mato. But not to mine. They'd ruin chances of my survival." Rock looked at Mato, her eyes narrowed to slits. "Worst of all, I'd have trouble fighting for you."

And the last part was of utmost importance to Black Rock Shooter, Mato knew, so she resisted pushing any more, and resorted to the subject of their conversation prior to this one. "I guess... I'll be going back now."

"Good." It wasn't meant to be derisive, but Rock was generous enoguh to add when she spied the hurt in Mato's eyes, "...Night."

"Good night, Black Rock Shooter," Mato whispered, donating Rock a soft smile as the dim glow emanated from the star charm.

* * *

The very next day, Saya was holed up in her office again, sorting files on the computer, rearranging schedules and other drudgeries, when there was a gentle knock on the door.

Startled, she shot up from her desk chair and it wheeled backward to collide with a filing cabinet. She cursed underbreath, tucked it back in her desk and rushed over to the door. There was another minute tap before Saya flung the door open.

Mato, predicting this, didn't stumble back this time, and looked up at the taller woman with a Cheshire grin. "Good morning, Saya!"

"Mato," Saya breathed, lightly palming her forehead. She had no idea why she was so jittery. "First period hasn't even started."

"I know, but I wanted to talk to you right away. It won't take long, promise." Mato squeezed past her guidance counselor without even a verbal invitation.

Saya's jaw dropped maybe an inch at the pushiness, and when she regained her composure, something else came along to startle her.

"Maaaaatooooo!" a shrill and angry voice cried in the distance. Mato swiveled around, her visage masked in horror as an ill-defined streak of gold zipped past Saya without a problem. Saya "Eep!"'d and almost lost her footing, while the Super-Sonic-the-Hedgehog-like thing lunged for Mato. Mato could only take a few steps before it pounced on her, the weight pushing her off her feet and causing her to topple the coffee table over.

Somehow in the midst of the creature's grappling, Mato managed to bowl out of the table's way in its descent, preventing herself further harm. It crashed no more than an inch behind the two as they scuffled. Mato thrashed beneath the intruder, who in turn had no choice but to scramble off of her. The raven-haired girl took advantage of this momentary vulnerability to turn the tables on her opponent, pinning them with her weight and straddling.

Then the assailant, scratching and biting, flipped them over. Then Mato snapped out her feet and earned her place on top again. Then Super Sonic rolled so she was on the bottom once more. And this went on for a while until they rolled into Saya's desk. Mato's head banged off the metal knob of the drawer, and Super Sonic smashed their temple on the corner pretty hard. They each groaned and wriggled away from each other, Mato sprawling out on the ground while Super Sonic sat upright.

"Ouchie!" Kagari and Mato hissed in unison, attentively rubbing where fresh blue-purple blotches were bound to form, and looked up when they registered a soft click.

Saya, who had viewed the spectacle with a number of expressions, had clicked the door shut and let her gaze skitter between the two. Kagari was rolling back and forth in exaggerated agony, complementing her act with mumbled pleads to fetch an ambulance, and Mato had picked herself up and was laughing it off all she could.

Saya shook her head. "What was that?"

The "fatally wounded" Kagari instantly sprang back to her feet and pointed accusingly at Mato. "This girl ran ahead! Way ahead!"

"I told you I wanted to talk to Saya!" Mato half-whimpered.

"Why do you call her by her first name?"

"Izuriha," Saya piped up. "Do you mind if Mato talks to me for a bit?"

"Yes!" Kagari exclaimed, turning to her, and Mato did the same.

"Why?" Saya asked bemusedly.

"Because she's supposed to spend her mornings with us." Kagari shot a glare over her shoulder at Mato, who smiled sheepishly. "But this is the second day she hardly got involved in the conversation, then started running ahead without Yomi and I."

"Wait, where is Yomi?" Mato asked.

"Waiting outside our first period class for us," Kagari growled.

Mato smiled softly, unfazed by the hostility. She empathized and knew she shouldn't have caught her friends off guard like that, but she was especially thrilled about what she was planning to chat with Saya about, so she hadn't been able to help herself. It had unraveled last night, when she returned home and laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling in deep thought as she digested all of her recent discoveries: Why not have Black Rock Shooter visit her reality, and she'd show her emotion wasn't so bad once you got the hang of it?

She'd take Rock to the cinema with her friends under the pretense that Black Rock Shooter was her cousin Akira (Common enough name, right?), then she arranged bowling, and once they were back at her house, typical girl stuff; makeovers and the like. It sounded like a plan to Mato, but she had to run it by someone knowledgeable of the Other World, like Saya, first, to confirm it was safe. Hopefully Saya wouldn't protest.

Said woman's chirp broke into her thoughts. "I think what Mato wants to discuss with me is really urgent, right, Mato?" Mato nodded vehemently, not yet out of Lala Land, and Sayu flashed a genuine smile at the no longer as perturbed Kagari. "I'll have her back in your first period class in no time. One morning won't hurt, right?"

"It'll start out one morning, but then it'll be another, and another," concluded Kagari in all her paranoia, and she pouted halfheartedly.

"No, it's just this one morning," Mato reassured her.

Kagari's angry gaze darted between Saya and Mato. "Fine, I don't want to keep Yomi waiting anyway. But you're going to tell me what's bothering you lately, Mato!" she declared, and marched out the door that Saya opened for her. They both bid her good-byes to her, Mato giggling on her part, and Saya shut the door when she was out at last.

"Your friend gets really wound up," Saya remarked as she came to sit in her arm chair.

Mato waited to reposition the coffee table on all fours before responding, grateful that nothing was set on the table at the time. "She used to be worse." Mato moved to the couch. She shrunk herself in the far corner with her knees up, comfortable and sure Saya didn't mind shoes on the cushions.

"I know," Saya said simply. "I'm going to guess you don't want anything again."

"No, thank you. I wanted to talk about Black Rock Shooter again," Mato said brightly.

"You're thinking an awful lot about your other self lately." Saya leaned back in her chair, setting her elbow on its cylindrical arm and mounting her cheek on her palm. "Too much," she added in low octaves so Mato wouldn't hear. It seemed as though Saya had feared: Mato was becoming too close to Black Rock Shooter. She'd have to do something to split them, or else.

Mato dropped her gaze to her twiddling thumbs. "Guess so."

"Do you really think it would work, Mato?" Saya was cooking up some discouraging statements to influence Mato into rethinking her firm decision. "All Black Rock Shooter cares about is fighting and protecting you. Not being your friend."

"She still cares about me!" Mato politely disputed, oblivious to Saya's intentions, and a faint blush coloring her cheeks as she recalled her reaction to when Rock rescued her yesterday. She had hugged her, and it felt amazing, almost as amazing as when she was so close to... Her blush intensified, and she lightly shook her head to clear it. When she felt she had recovered, and this whole process consumed only a few seconds of her time and went unnoticed by Saya, she pressed on. "And friendship always has a way. Oh gosh, that last part was sappy." Mato smiled at her own silliness.

The smile was contagious, and Saya soon found herself copying despite the turmoil underneath. I can't allow this, she thought. "Mato, you should give up before you get hurt. Besides, if it weren't for her instincts, do you think Black Rock Shooter would truly care about you? That's merely her genetic instructions, her purpose. Not out of her own will."

The words struck Mato dumb, and like a thousand needles impaling Mato's heart. She bowed her head, digging her nails in the leather material of the couch, leaving marks. For a while, she didn't speak, and Saya sat back triumphantly. It appeared to her for a few heartbeats that she had solved this issue.

She was proven wrong. "...No," Mato rasped.

"Hm?" Saya blinked.

"It may be her purpose, may be threaded in her DNA, but Black Rock Shooter is smart." Mato raised her head, revealing a countenance as sunny as ever. "If she wants to stop caring about me, she will."

Saya's eyes widened a fraction of an inch, thrown off by this wisdom, but then again, Mato had shown how insightful she could be many a time. "I suppose so," she said when she had racked her mind for a logical argument and came up with none. Sourly, she realized she may have to try a different approach.

"Tell me real quick, and don't lie," Mato said, her tone strong. "Are there any negative side effects of teleporting my other self to this world?"

"What! Are you serious?" Saya yelled and nearly fell back in her chair if it wasn't so massive. Mato nodded, standing her ground. "You're taking this really far, Mato."

"I don't care! Just tell me!" Mato's toughness melted into pitifulness, and her tone was more broken now.

"I really don't know," Saya replied.

"You don't..." Mato started off in frustration, but forced herself to simmer down and continue more evenly, "Alright, I guess that's such a rarity that even you wouldn't know. It's not your fault. Thanks anyway." Mato rose from her seat. "I could ask Yuu, or Black Rock Shooter herself."

"Nonetheless, it's a bad idea," Saya desperately tried to get through to Mato. "She can't fight your sorrow here."

"What sorrow?" Mato said, throwing a smile over her shoulder as she picked her way to the door. "I'm happy, and everything is perfect!"

Oh, that was right. Mato was unusual. She possessed little to no pain, which was what made Black Rock Shooter so special. She fought on Mato's behalf, but mostly not for her grief.

Saya had the urge to smack herself across the face for that pathetic attempt. "Wait a minute, Mato, you have a point, but I really don't support this at all..."

"That's okay," Mato threw back and pulled the door open a crack, but paused and looked over her shoulder at Saya. "Hey, one more thing."

"Yes?" Saya was stressed, running a hand roughly through her hair.

Mato opened her mouth to say something, hesitated, and it fell shut. "Never mind. I think I already heard the bell ring. Don't worry-I don't need a pass," she added. "The teacher comes in late on Tuesdays for some reason. Bye, have a nice day and all." With that, she breezed out the door, leaving Saya to mope about her failure.

As Mato stepped in the hall, she became grim. "I couldn't tell her," she said quietly to herself, and put a hand over her heart while her mouth was caught between smiling or frowning. "I couldn't tell her that... I think I might be crushing on Black Rock Shooter."


End file.
